China’s optical chip breakthrough boosts AI speed 100-fold using fraction of compute power

China’s optical chip breakthrough boosts AI speed 100-fold using fraction of compute powerPeking University researchers develop new all-optical interconnect system linking standard electronic chips with specific algorithms2-MIN READ2-MIN4ListenPublished: 2:00pm, 13 Jul 2026Updated: 2:43pm, 13 Jul 2026Chinese researchers have developed a new all-optical interconnect system linking standard electronic chips, boosting AI distributed inference speeds by over 100 times while using just one-ninth of the typical computational resources.AI models are permeating ever more applications, expanding the industry’s appetite for computational power. The conventional response has been to pile on more GPUs and build ever-larger data centres in a seemingly endless race for energy and brute force.But a new study from Peking University suggests a radically different path: by optically linking chips with specific algorithms, they boost inference speeds by a factor of over 100 while slashing compute needs to just one-ninth.Select VoiceSelect Speed0.8x0.9x1.0x1.1x1.2x1.5x1.75x00:0000:001.00x